express, I get 1153 fps with a 335 gr LBT out of my .45. What more does a deer or elk need? If you really want to have fun, get the BFR 45-70. Of course they make it in all the big calibers including the .500 S&W. Less then $1000. As accurate as a Freedom arms. In fact I think it shoots better.

I love my Freedom Arms Prem Grade 7.5" Magna Ported with Micarta grips and sling mounts. I have a T SOB Scope mount which holds a Burris 2X power Posi Lock.

I load 300 grain Speer Gold Dots with 2400. Boy this load will knock bear off their feet. Shoots better than I can hold it. I also have a 45 Colt cylinder for it. I paid 1200 for it several years ago. My Dream pistol.

I also have S&W 629 VComp 5" 44 Mag and a Colt Python 6" that I carry often also. The 454 is strictly my hunting handgun.

If I were going to suggest a 454 of course FA is top of the line but the Ruger 454 would be a fine pistol with the intergral scope mount and Rings are excellent, wish other manufactures would adopt that, this is the pistol I would suggest.

Express: Uberti dropped the Tornado .454 (in fact, only a few hundred were ever made). I also agree that a BFR may be your best bet.....I have 5 of these guns and they've all proven accurate.



Lee Martin

www.singleactions.com

In my 7.5" Freedom Arms .454, I get the 335 LBT to 1700 fps, and the 370 LBT to 1600. These loads are absolutely max, and I wouldn't try them in any gun other than the FA.

I think you could get to within 150-200 fps of these loads with other brands of guns, but having never shot them I'm not sure.

Something else you might like about the FA is the workmanship and ergonomics. The fit and finish are fantastic--by far the best handgun I have. I've been shooting mine with heavy loads for 10 years and the cylinder still locks up as tight as a bank vault--there is no discernable cylinder play. I've also not found another single action that fits the hand so well and rolls as nicely under recoil as the FA.

One drawback to the FA, though, is the cylinder length. A bullet larger than about 370 grains takes up so much case volume that performance drops off considerably. I get the most energy with the 335s, with the 370s pretty close behind, any heavier and I can't get enough powder in the case to make the heavy bullets worth playing with. With the Ruger SR and I think the Ubertis, the bullets can be seated out further, or have a longer nose, so performance of the heavies tends to drop off less in proportion to the lighter bullets (flattens the performance envelope). The tradeoff? You can't jack the pressures as high in the non-FA's like you can the FAs, so you can never really reach the same performance levels with the Rugers, Tauruses, and I suspect the Ubertis.